Screw conveyer



N. M.'LowER.' SCREW CONVEYER. APPLICATION FILED FEB. 24, |919.

Patented Apr. 5, 1921.

-UNITED STATES,

NATHAN LOWER, OEPITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA, `AssrcfNoRTo LocoMo'rIvESTOKER COMPANY, OF PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA, A CORPORATION OF PENN..

SYLVANIA.

Original application led August 1, v1918, Serial No. 247,762. Dividedand this 24, 1919. Serial No. 278,916.

y. To all t may concern.'

Be it known that I, NATHAN M. LOWER, a citizen of the United States, andresident of Pittsburgh, county of Allegheny, and State of Pennsylvania,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Screw Conveyers, ofwhich the following is a specification, and which are illustrated in theaccompanying drawings, forming a part thereof.

The invention relates to screw conveyers especially adapted for use inconnection with locomotive stokers and herein shown and described asbeing applied to mechanism of that character.

It is common practice for the fuel to be transferred from the tender tothe locomotive by means of a screw conveyer working in a trough andconduit located below the tender ioor and delivering to a chambered bodycarried by the locomotive, from which' it is elevated by one or moresimilar screws. It is important to the efficient working of theelevating screws that the fuel be under pressure as it is taken up andcarried forward by them, therebyreducing the frictional action' upon itof the vane of the elevating screw. It is, nevertheless, desirable thatthere be a free movement of the fuel in the horizontal or transferringconduit.

Again, it is desirable that the passage through which the fuel is movedbe free from obstructions, such as journal bearings for the screw, andit is known practice o have the screw rotate freely in the con uit.

The object of this invention is to secure the various advantages abovereferred to, and also to provide for an improved bearing for the screwwithin the conduit.

An exemplification of the invention is illustrated in the accompanyingdrawings, which showa detail sectional view through adjacent portions ofa locomotive and its tender, and show the conveyer in longitudinalsection. y

This application is a division of my ending ap lication filed Augustlst, 1918, `erial No. 24 ,762. The underframing of the rear end of alocomotive is represented at 1, and the forward end of the locomotivetender at 2.' The deck floor of the locomotive cab is shown atSpecification of Letters Patent.

SCREW ooNvEYEE.

Patented Apr. 5, 1921.

application filed February Within the conduit 7 is located a screwconveyer, enerally designated by the numeral 10. his screw may be drivenby any suitable means, not shown, applied to its rearward end. At itsforward end the screw 1s rotatably supported upon the floor of theconduit 7, upon which the last turn 11 of its vane rests. The variousturns, as 12, of the screw vane to the rear of the turn 11 are of lessradial width than the latter, and hence have less carrying capacity andare not called upon to support the conveyer screw. The turn 11 of thevane is also widened or thickened, in axial direction, to give it abroad bearing surface for, engagement with the bottom of the conduit.

The screw l0 carries the fuel forwardly in the trough as a somewhatloose mass. As the material reaches the more contracted portion of thetrough where it joins the box 6, it is taken up by the larger turn 11 ofthe screw 'and forced into the box with increased pressure. Thispressure assists the elevating screw by effectively reducing thefrictional l resistance of the fuel thereon and checking a tendency ofthe column of ascending material to merely rotate inthe elevatingconduit. This increased capacity of the last turn 11 of the transferringscrew also prevents a" retardation ofthe fuel at the delivery end of theconduit which, should it occur, would cause the material to pile up atthe forward-end of the trough and overflow its walls. i

The wide face of the supporting turn 11 ofthe screw provides adequatebearing surface and prevents undue wear of the parts.

I claim as my invention- 1. In a Vlocomotive Stoker, in combination,

4a l fueltransferring screw hayin'g its final turn of greater radiusthan the remaindervof4 its turns and fuel elevating screw meansreceiving from the transferring screw.

2. In a locomotive Stoker, in combination, a. conduit for transferringfuel from the tender of the locomotive, a. receivingclxam-v ber on thelocomotive into which the conduit discharges, a screw conveyer in theconduit, the delivery end of the screw ,being of. 10

